Sonam Wangchuk is an Indian engineer, entrepreneur, and supporter of educational reform who was born on September 1, 1966. As the founding director of the Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL), he oversaw the organization’s establishment in 1988. According to him, the students were the “victims” of an outside educational system that was imposed on Ladakh. He is renowned for creating the solar-powered SECMOL campus, which eliminates the need for fossil fuels for heating, lighting, or cooking.
In order to introduce changes to the government school system, Sonam Wangchuk played a key role in the 1994 launch of Operation New Hope, a partnership between the government, rural communities, and civil society. His creation of the Ice Stupa method, which forms artificial glaciers in the shape of cone-shaped ice heaps to store winter water, is credited to him.
Sonam Wangchuck Biography
| Name | Sonam Wangchuck |
| Nick name | Snow warrior |
| Date of birth | 1 September 1966 |
| Birth place | Uleytokpo |
| Age | 57 years |
| Profession | Engineer |
| Hometown | Ladakh |
| School | Vishesh Kendriya Vidyala |
| College | National Institute of Technology, Srinagar CRA School Architecture , Grenoble, france |
| Qualification | B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering |
| Father | Sonam Wangyal |
Sonam Wangchuck Early life
In the Leh area of Ladakh, Wangchuk was born in 1966 not far from Alchi. Because there were no schools in his village, he did not start attending one until he was nine years old. Up until that age, his mother had taught him all the fundamentals in his own tongue. Sonam Wangyal, his father, was a politician based in Srinagar who went on to become a state government minister. He was brought to Srinagar at the age of nine, where he registered in a school. Since he didn’t appear like the other kids, he would often be addressed in a language he didn’t understand, leading to people mistaking his lack of response for stupidity. He remembers this time frame as the the lowest point in his life. He was unable to take the treatment and fled by himself to Delhi in 1977, where he made his case to the principal of Vishesh Kendriya Vidyalaya.
At the National Institute of Technology Srinagar (formerly known as REC Srinagar), Wangchuk earned his B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering in 1987.[Inadequate confirmation] He had to pay for his own schooling as he couldn’t agree with his father on the engineering track he should have taken. In 2011, he also attended the Craterre School of Architecture in Grenoble, France, for two years to further his studies in Earthen Architecture.
Sonam Wangchuck Career
Following his graduation in 1988, Wangchuk founded the Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) alongside his brother and five other classmates. Following a trial period of school changes at the government high school at Saspol, SECMOL, in association with the government education department and the village populace, initiated Operation New Hope.
Wangchuk also started and served as editor of Ladakh’s sole print magazine, Ladags Melong, from June 1993 to August 2005. He was assigned to the position of advisor for education in the government of the Hill Council in 2001.He established the Ladakh Voluntary Network (LVN), a network of Ladakhi NGOs, in 2002 alongside other NGO heads. From 2003 to 2005, he was the secretary of the organization’s executive committee. In 2004, he was tasked with creating the strategy on education and tourism and assigned to the Ladakh Hill Council Government’s Drafting Committee for its Vision Document, Ladakh 2025. In 2005, India’s Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, publicly introduced the paper. Wangchuk was appointed to the National Governing Board in 2005. The Indian government’s Ministry of Human Resource Development houses the Council for Elementary Education.
Sonam Wangchuck Politics
Wangchuk assisted in the establishment of the New Ladakh Movement (NLM), a social movement and Ladakh’s version of the Green Party, in 2013 in response to repeated demands from the region’s student body. The NLM’s goals are to promote sustainable economic, environmental, and educational practices. Additionally, it sought to bring all of the local political figures together around a common goal for Ladakh’s expansion and advancement. In the end, the group’s members chose to transform it into a social movement free of politics.
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Sonam Wangchuck in 3 Idiots
Wangchuk’s story served as the basis for the character Phunsukh Wangdu in the 2009 Bollywood blockbuster 3 Idiots. His hunger strike garnered attention locally and nationally, shedding light on the grievances of Ladakh’s people and significantly raising awareness about their cause.
Ladakh autonomy protest
Wangchuk attempted to fast at the Khardungla pass on January 26, 2023, in an effort to draw attention to the consequences of climate change on Ladakh’s delicate environment and to demand that it be protected under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. But the government put him under house arrest, limited his mobility, and barred visitors from seeing him, so he was unable to travel to Khardungla. The police refuted the allegations, claiming that he had not been granted authorization to cross through Khardung La pass and that the low of -40°C made the weather unfit for the fast. A couple of his HIAL campus supporters were also taken into custody. Wangchuk persisted in protesting from the HIAL campus and throughout his fast.
He began a fast that would last till his death in March 2024 in order to force the Union Territory’s constitutional protections and Ladakh’s shielding from mining and industrial interests.In addition, he started a 21-day hunger strike called the Climate Fast in protest of Union Territory Ladakh’s Sixth Schedule sovereignty.
Sonam Wangchuck News
Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk ended his 21-day hunger strike, news agency ANI reported on Tuesday. Wangchuk launched “Climate Fast for 21 days (extendable till death)” on March 6. While ending his hunger strike on Tuesday, he said that it was not the end of the protest.
“This is the end of the first phase of the hunger strike. But this is not the end of the protest. It’s a new beginning. The new phase will start tomorrow [Wednesday, March 27. Women will hold hunger strike from tomorrow…this will go on,” Wangchuk said on Tuesday.
During the 21 days of the climate fast, Wangchuk said, “350 people slept in -10 °C. 5000 people in the day here [Ladakh]. But still not a word from the government.”
In another post on X, he reached out to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. “We need statesmen of integrity, farsightedness & wisdom in this country and not just shortsighted characterless politicians. And I very much hope that Narendra Modi ji and Amit Shah ji will soon prove that they are statesmen…,” he had tweeted on Tuesday.
He also reminded PM Modi and Amit Shah of the promises they made to the people of Ladakh in the past two elections.
Who is Sonam Wangchuk?
Wangchuk is a climate activist, mechanical engineer and educator from Ladakh. He is also the Director of the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh (HIAL). He had received the Magsaysay Award in the year 2018.
It was Wangchuk’s personality that inspired Aamir Khan’s character Phunsukh Wangdu in the 2009 film ‘3 idiots’.
Why is Sonam Wangchuk protesting
While launching a 21-day hunger strike, Wangchuk had raised challenges related to the climate. “Today our planet is going through huge challenges, environmental challenges, global warming, climate change and no where else this challenge can be seen more than in the Himalayas, than in the Tibetan plateau,” he had said on March 6.
“Himalayan glaciers are melting away fast,” he tweeted on the 17th day of the protest.
Meanwhile, he has also raised the demand for statehood for Ladakh and its inclusion in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. In an appeal to the Prime Minister, he said, “Sharing the unfair treatment meted out to people of Ladakh on Safeguards under 6th Schedule of constitution…4 years of dilly dallying and a No in the end… after making clear promises in 2 elections in written manifestos.”
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